Ventilating fan mounting structure



6t. 30, 1 v. E. SPROUSE ET AL VENTILATING FAN MOUNTING STRUCTURE 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Dec. 20, 1949 INyEN ToRs, VERNER E. SPRoUsE AND TkUEMAN P JORDAN) JB-Y My m EIL TToR-E Oct. 30, 1951 v. E. SPROUSE ET AL VENTILATING FAN MOUNTING STRUCTURE 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 .Filed Dec. 20, 1949 I'IIIJIIIIIA 'lll llllllllllnlll l I I l llfi llllllllllllllllllllll lllll ||ll|| lllllll IIIF INVEN'roRs, VERNER E. Spnouse AND flTTORNEY.

TRUEMAN P JORDAN,

Patented Oct. 30, 1951 2,573,145. vnn'rrmrme FANMOUNTING STRUCTURE Verne: E..S pr.o.use and Trueman; P; Jordan,.-Columbus- Ind. lssignors to- V. SprouseComparry Ina, (2olumbus,-.1nd.,, a corporation of:

Indiana ApplicationiDecem-ber'20, 1949, SerialI'No. 134,054

.3 .Qlaims. (Cl. 230-417 This invention relates to. a. ventilating fan. oi a type, normally employed; inv dwelling. houses.- where quietness of operation is very essential.v A. common use of. the invention is to moveoair out of a dwelling in: order that cool from the, outside, orat least fresh-air from the outside maybe, pulled in to replacethat air withdrawn and forced out of the dwelling by the fan construction herein to be considered, While. it is, highly desirable to have a. high efiiciency in. respect, to the ratioof air moved tothe power input, as indicated, quietness of operation is of prime consideration.

' It is a primary purpose of, the. invention to pro.- vide a mounting structure, self-contained, which. will prevent vibrations from any of the moving; partssuch as the driving motor and: the revolving fan from being transmitted to the building structure and to the air itself in. the sense that. noise will be audible to the inhabitants of the building. Furthermore it. is the purposehof the invention. to prevent vibrations being set. up of such ,a nature that they will be felt even. though not audi. ble; A further primary object of the invention. is. to provide a structure of the nature. indicated wherein those objects will be. accomplished even. though the mounting structure. is: made out of much lighter metal than has heretofore been. considered possible for the purpose. In other words the invention permits use of less weight of; metal while accomplishing that highly desirable end result of no vibrationbeing transmitted either to. the air or to. the supporting building; structure.

These and many other objects and advantages of: the. inventionv such as, will be foundin; the peculiar arrangement and assembly oi, the, various elements to facilitate production:andeassems bly, will become apparent to those versed in the art in the. following descriptionotone particular form of the invention as illustrated in theaccompany drawings, in which:

Fig. I is a. view in rear elevation of.a.-.struoture: incorporating the invention;

Fig. 2 is a. detail on. an. enlarged. scaleineleration: and partial; section of'the;mountingrrelatiorb ship between the. fan supporting .memberand the. mounting. frame;

.Fig. 3: is a vertical, transverse section onvthe 1ine.3;--3 in Fig. .11;

' .FigAis aninside elev-ationalriew .olirthe. detail:

acters. of. reference indicate like parts. there is: formed: a mounting. frame g n rally designated; This frame In is generali y box-like in nature and is. compos d of a p. flat.

by the. numeral ll].

metal sheet. wa-ll, I1, the two. vertically disposed; flat metal sheet walls I2 and I3; and the flat... metal sheet ,floor [-4, These boundingwalls.-

ll l 4 are provided with the outturned flanges:

walls and spaced backwardly from the discharge end of the structurea distance approximately one-fourth of the fore and afit length of these bounding walls. This baflle member 18 has a peculiar shape in that it has afoot l9. extending in intimate contact: across the inside faceof each of the walls ll-M inclusive. From the. foot 19;, the member l8 ;.is turned inwardly by a leg 20. Fig. 3,, herein shown as being disposed at right; angles to the various walls. From the inner portion, of the leg 20, there. is turned rearwardly within the box'structure It a web '2 l1, and from the inner ed eportion ofthis web 2t, there is turnedatright. angles therefrom a flange 22 to. terminate by a freeedgeportion 2,3...

Spaced apart along each. of the walls lI-Hl' inclusive, are a plurality .of resilient, vibration absorbing spacers 2.5. Each of these spacers. 25 carry a pair of cap. screws 24 and .240... axially aligned to have their heads imbedded within the. spacers; 25. and, extending by free ends; respectively therefrom, I'I'ig; 5. The bolts. 2.4 extend through the post I 9 and walls l.|'-.I4 tov project exteriorly thereof to receive the, securing nuts. 24b thereon.

A. member 26 herein termed a Venturi .plate; is defined. by: a rectangular outer mar in l. p rtion from which there. is turned rearwardly a mounting flange. 21. The. vertical and transversedimensions. of the outer marginal surface of the, flange-.121 exceed the corresponding dimensions: ofj-the openingrinthemember was definedtby' he margin-23. thereof. Thesplatezeis provided with.

a-zmaiorcentrally disposed: opening 1218... From. margin of; opening .28; there.

In order extended forwardly toward the discharge side of the frame H] a tubular neck 29, the diameter of the tubular portion being smaller than the diameter of the opening 28. That is, the tubular portion 29 merges into the plate 26, by a radial portion 36. The forward edge of the tubular portion 29 terminates just inside of the discharge side of the frame Ill, Fig. 3.

The flange 21 of the plate 26 is provided with slots 3| spaced apart distances equal to the spacings of the bolts 24a. Each of these slots 3| enters from the rear, free edge of the flange 21 and has its outer portions entering between tongues 32 and 33 constituting portions of the flange 21 turned substantially normal to the flange faces, Figs. 2, 4, and 5.

A pair of fan supporting arms 35 and 36 are secured to the rear side of the plate 26.

As viewed in Fig. 1, the arm 35 has its upper end portion 31 fixed to the plate 26 toward its upper left-hand corner, to extend rearwardly therefrom substantially at right angles to the plate 26. The arm 35 is bent from the straight portion 38 around downwardly and diagonally through the length 39 toward the central portion of the frame l0, and thence is carried downwardly through a vertical disposed portion 40, from which the arm is carried through a diagonally disposed portion 4| and around through a horizontally disposed length 42 to have its end 43 abut the plate 26 and be fixed thereto. In like manner, the arm 36 is fixed to the plate 26 having its upper end portion 44 fixed toward the upper right-hand corner thereof, to extend diagonally downwardly to a centrally disposed vertical portion 45, and thence diagonally outwardly and back to the plate 26 to have its lower end 46 fixed thereto. The centrally disposed, vertical portions 49 and 45 are spaced apart symmetrically from a vertical plane through the axis of the hole 28.

Fixed to these vertical portions 40 and 45 of the arms 35 and 36 respectively is a fan shaft bearing housing 41. The exact configuration and construction of this housing 41 is immaterial to the present invention, but it is essential that it be fixed rigidly and permanently to the arms 35 and 36. Within the housing 41 are carried in spaced apart relation the front and rear fan shaft bearings 48 and 49 respectively.

A fan shaft 50 is revolubly carried by these bearings 48 and 49 and held against longitudinal displacement. On the forward end of the shaft 59 is mounted a fan 5| herein shown as consisting of four blades. The outer portions of the fan blades 5| extend forwardly within the tubular portion 29 of the Venturi plate 26,'Fig. 3, and their outer peripheral portions have a slight clerance between them and this portion 29, Figs. 1 and 3.

n the rear end portion of the shaft is mounted a belt pulley 6| around which is carried a driving belt 52, to, in turn, pass around a driving pulley 53 driven by the electric motor 54.

Reverting to the plate 26, this plate is mounted and carried by the mounting frame H] by having its flange 21 forced rearwardly over the inner ends of the resilient spacers 25, to have the bolts 24a relatively enter the slots 3| in each instance. The flange 21 is then secured against fore and aft displacement by means of nuts 55 screwthreadedly engaged over the inner ends of the bolts 24a and compressibly urging washers 56 against the face of the flange 21 in each instance. Thewasher 56 is of that diameter which will permit it to lie ahead of the inturned tongues 32 and 33 so that the flange 21 will then be effectively held not only against rearward displacement, but also against forward displacement.

The motor 54 is carried by the plate 26 through a plate 51 which has its forward edge portion resting on top 'of the flange 21 and extending rearwardly a distance and thence upwardly along the portion 4| of the arm 35, Fig. 1. The plate 51 is secured to that portion 4| in any suitable manner, such as by welding. Preferably a rear resilient cushion 58, Fig. 3, is inserted between the plate 51 and the wall I4 and secured in place by the bolt 59. However, as above indicated, the fan and its driving motor are all carried as an integral unit assembly with the plate 26, all without metallic contact with any of the walls |||4.

The flange 21 encircling the plate 26 is necessarily spaced from the inner sides of the various walls |||4 in order to permit that flange 21 to bear against the elastic sleeves 25 in each instance. This means that there might be the chance of air being drawn rearwardly through the front discharge side of the frame I0 back between the flange 21 and the various walls I |-|-4 if no means were presented to prevent that flow. The function of the member I8 is not only to stiffen the walls ||-|4, but to obstruct that possible flow by means of the inwardly extending leg 26 and the web 2| which carries the flange 22 to terminate by the edge 23 spaced inwardly from those walls a greater distance than is the flange 21. Therefore any back flow tendency of the air is resisted by reason of the fact that such flow would have to be in a tortuous manner in order to get back into the housing In behind the plate 26.

While reference to the spacers 25 has been made as designating them to be made out of a resilient material, it is implied thereby that they be not only resilient but elastic so that they will tend to hold their original pressed length between the walls ||--|4 and the flange 21, and absorb vibrations of the assembly carried by the plate 26 without transmitting those vibrations to the walls |||4. A suitable material for these sleeves would be rubber either in its natural state or any of the synthetic rubbers of suflicient elastic nature.

While we have herein shown and described our invention in the one particular form as now best known to us, it is obvious that structural variations may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention, and we therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations which may be imposed by the following claims.

We claim:

1. A fan mounting structure comprising a box; a Venturi-pl-ate member; a pair of arms, each having ends secured to a common side of said member, and the major portions of the arms spaced from the member and from each other; a fan shaft; fan shaft support means fixed to said arms to carry the shaft axially of said member; said Venturi-plate member having a central air flow opening therethrough, the marginal plate portion defining said opening being etxended in a reduced diameter neck portion; a fan mounted on said shaft to extend by its discharge side into said neck portion; said Venturi-plate member having an outer edge contour defining an area less in extent than the cross-sectional area of said box; .a plurality of elastic spacing members mounted around the inside of said box; said Venturi-plate member having its said outer edge seated on said spacing members whereby said Venturi-plate member is spaced from contact with said box; means securing said Venturi-plate member in position on said spacing members; and a fan drive motor carried by said plate member; and a bafiie member interengaged between said spacing members and said box and having a flange portion extending centrally inwardly from the box a distance further than said plate member edge portion and spaced longitudinally therefrom in respect to axial direction of said shaft.

2. A fan mounting structure comprising a box; a plate member having a Venturi orifice therethrough and positioned to extend across the box; a plurality of vibration absorbing spacers between the marginal edge portion of the plate member and said box to provide a resilient mounting of the plate member in spaced relation from the box; a fan revolubly carried by said plate member to have its discharge side located to carry air through said orifice; and a fan drive motor also carried by said plate member; and a baflle member spaced from said plate member to extend inwardly of the box a distance exceeding the spacing of the plate member therefrom. 3. A fan structure comprising a box; a Venturiplate; a peripheral flange around the plate and extending normally therefrom, said flange having spaced apart slots entering from the edge thereof; tongues turned inwardly from the margins of said slots, the bend lines of the tongues at the flang being diagonally disposed outward- 1y of the flange, one line diverging from the other at each slot entrance; said plate having less overall dimensions than the corresponding dimensions 6 of the box whereby the plate is received within the box to extend thereacross to have said flange spaced entirely therearound from the box; vibration absorbing spacers between said box and said flange, one of said spacers being located at each of said flange slots; bolts located in the box, one each to carry one of said spacers; a bolt carried by each spacer to be' entered in the corresponding flange slot; a nut screw-threadedly engaging each bolt over said flange between the plate and said tongues to restrain the plate against travel through the box; a fan mounted on said plate to carry air through said plate; and a motor carried by the plate to drive the fan; whereby said plate, fan, and motor form an assembly insulated from the box to eliminate substantially transmission of vibration to the box; and a baflie ring secured to said box to extend across the clearance space between said plate flange and the box, the ring having a portion thereof spaced from the plate along said box.

VERNER E. SPROUSE. TRUEMAN P. JORDAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,935,179 Orear Nov. 14, 1933 1,948,755 Gullicksen Feb. 2'7, 1934 1,992,112 Allen Feb. 19, 1935 2,049,856 Mueller Aug. 4, 1936 2,148,524 Bartch et al Feb. 28, 1939 2,298,606 Wren Oct. 13, 1942 2,385,152 Morrison Sept. 18, 1945 

